40 Inspiring Quotes about Happiness

Are you feeling sad and frustrated in life? It may be tough to maintain a happy and joyful life, especially if you’re going through a lot of pain. However, you don’t have to worry much about it, just relax and take a look at these handpicked selection of inspirational quotes about joy and happiness. Sometimes, that’s the only thing you need in order to re-enlighten the burning fire of inspiration within you.

Reading through the quotes about happiness from some of the wisest people throughout history will help you have a more positive outlook in life. Here are 40 inspiring quotes that will restore your smile and brighten up your day.

1. “Happiness depends upon ourselves.” – Aristotle

2. “Be happy with what you have. Be excited about what you want.” – Alan Cohen

3. “Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.” – Frank Tyger

4. “If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never be fulfilled. If your happiness depends on money, you will never be happy with yourself. Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the world belongs to you.” – Lao Tzu

6. “Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.” – Margaret Lee Runbeck

7. “Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.” – Denis Waitley

8. “The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, then there will be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be.” – Anne Frank

9. “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” – Dalai Lama

10. “True happiness is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” – Helen Keller

11. “Happiness is not having what you want. It is appreciating what you have.” – Unknown

12. “Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one’s values.” – Ayn Rand

13. “The happiness of life is made up of the little charities of a kiss or smile, a kind look, a heartfelt compliment.” – Samuel Taylor Coleridge

14. “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” – Buddha

15. “True happiness…arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one’s self.” – Joseph Addison

16. “Happiness is where we find it, but very rarely where we seek it.” – J. Petit Senn

17. “The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be.” – Marcel Pagnol

18. “Happiness is the art of never holding in your mind the memory of any unpleasant thing that has passed.” – Unknown

19. There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” – Epictetus

20. “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” – Mahatma Gandhi

30. “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” – Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

31. “The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet.” – James Oppenheim

32. “Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.” – Benjamin Disraeli

33. “Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.” – Albert Schweitzer

34. “The greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.” – Martha Washington

35. “Happiness is something that comes into our lives through doors we don’t even remember leaving open.” – Rose Lane

36. “Happiness always looks small while you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and you learn at once how big and precious it is.” – Maxim Gorky

37. “It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

38. “We begin from the recognition that all beings cherish happiness and do not want suffering. It then becomes both morally wrong and pragmatically unwise to pursue only one’s own happiness oblivious to the feelings and aspirations of all others who surround us as members of the same human family. The wiser course is to think of others when pursuing our own happiness.” – Dalai Lama

39. “The happiest people in the world are those who feel absolutely terrific about themselves, and this is the natural outgrowth of accepting total responsibility for every part of their life.” – Brian Tracy

40. “Learn to let go. That is the key to happiness.” – Buddha

If you truly digest and pay attention to the wisdom of each quote, you’ll have the courage to overcome your sadness and make the most out of your life. True happiness can only be found within; you are responsible for your own happiness so you better work for it.

Mitch is a writer and photographer. She also does screenwriting for independent film producers and joins various film competitions. Mitch believes that “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”